Virginia’s Fort Lee, named after Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, will be renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in a redesignation ceremony on Thursday.
The post will honor Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams who “excelled in the field of sustainment and made significant marks in U.S. Army history,” the Army said in a March press release.
Gregg, who was known as the highest-ranking officer across the various branches of the U.S. military when he retired in 1981, helped to desegregate the Army during his career, which spanned more than three decades, according to the Army’s website. Gregg, who is 94 years old, will also be the only living person to have an Army base named after them in the present day, per the March press release.
Adams, the second part of the redesignated base name, was the commander of the sole Black Women’s Army Corps unit sent overseas during World War II, called the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, according to the Library of Congress’ Research Guide. She died in 2002 at age 83, according to The New York Times.
The redesignation is one of a number of cases in which the Naming Commission of the Department of Defense is seeking to remove “the names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederacy or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederacy,” according to a January DOD press release.
“The Naming Commission sought to recommend names that are ‘inspirational to the Soldiers and civilians who serve on our Army posts, and to the communities who support them.’ They delivered exactly that with these two inspiring leaders,” Maj. Gen. Mark Simerly said in the March press release, adding: “Their tremendous accomplishments — from World War II through the Cold War — speak to the important history of this installation and to the courage, dignity, and devotion to duty that we strive to instill in every Soldier training here at the home of the Army Sustainment.”
The ceremony is set to be livestreamed on Facebook at 12:45 p.m. ET on Thursday.